The Way You Are
by Seblainer
Summary: What happens when Ryan tells Greenlee that he loves her? Warning: Contains HET.


Fandom: All My Children  
Title: The Way You Are  
Characters: Greenlee Smythe and Ryan Lavery  
Pairing: Greenlee/Ryan  
Rating/Warnings: PG-13. Het, Mature Themes, OOC.  
Summary: What happens when Ryan tells Greenlee that he loves her?  
Disclaimer: I own nothing except this story.  
Author's Note: Thanks to my friend and beta Judy for all her help.  
Word Count: 28k

*The Way You Are*

"We can't do this anymore, Ryan. What about Annie? She's your wife and she loves you. And Aidan too, what about him? He's my boyfriend but here I am with you and here we are sleeping together again just like when we were married. I don't know why I didn't stop this from happening sooner," Greenlee said as she got up from the bed she and Ryan had been in the middle of having sex in.

"Greenlee wait. I love you and I want to be with you," Ryan said honestly.

Greenlee sighed and then said, "Ryan, we can't do this again. I can't do this again. I love you but I know that even though you love me, you still love Annie as well and I still love Aidan. It just wouldn't be a good idea for us to be together."

Ryan stared at Greenlee before saying, "I don't understand why we can't be together. I mean, we don't have to tell Annie or Aidan. They don't need to know because it would only hurt them, and neither one of us want to hurt them."

Greenlee shook her head and then said, "I can't keep something like this from Aidan. As long as he and I have been together, I can't jump into bed or a relationship with you without breaking things off with Aidan. And if you really do care about Annie, which you say you do, then you will do the right thing and divorce her before anything else happens between us. It's just not right what we have been doing and I feel terrible. Annie is my friend and I betrayed her by sleeping with her husband."

Ryan ran a hand through his hair and then said, "We can't help how we feel, Greenlee. I love you and you love me. Now we just have to find a way to make it work."

Greenlee sighed in annoyance and then said, "Ryan, you're not hearing me. We can't keep seeing each other unless we end things with Aidan and Annie. It's not right to keep letting them think that we are still in love with them."

Ryan nodded and then said, "Fine. I'll talk to Annie tonight. I know she's going to be hurt, but in the end she will understand that things are better this way."

Greenlee was silent for a moment and then she said, "I can't do this, Ryan. It's not the way I am."

Ryan stared at Greenlee and then said, "Yes it is, Greenlee. This is the way you are. This is the way I am. Sure, we found each other again and we fell in love with each other again at a bad time but it's not something we could help. It's like that old saying, 'you can't choose who you love'."

Greenlee listened to Ryan and to what he was saying and she wanted to ask him how he could sit beside her so calmly as if this sort of thing happened all the time and was normal for them. "I'm afraid of losing Annie as my friend, Ryan. She and I have been friends for years now and I'm afraid that she will never forgive me for this."

Ryan got up and he motioned for Greenlee to do the same and she later Ryan took Greenlee in his arms and he hugged her to his chest. "I know how much your friendship with Annie means to you. Just like you know how much my friendship with Aidan means to me. We just have to be careful how we go about telling them. If we just blurt it out, that could be bad. But if we speak to each of them separately and calmly, explaining everything, then maybe, just maybe things won't turn out to be a total disaster."

Greenlee simply nodded as Ryan spoke and when he finished speaking, she just held onto him, needing the comfort that he gave her. Greenlee was afraid of how things were going to be when Annie found out and had her whole world crashing down around her.

What was even worse was that there was also Emma to consider and now there was a new baby on the way. Those two factors alone, added to having to hurt Annie and Aidan in the first place, were almost more than Greenlee could stand. She would be taking a father away from two children and it broke her heart even though she was the cause of it.

"Greenlee, Greenlee come back to me," Ryan said, realizing that she had gotten lost in her thoughts.

Hearing Ryan calling her name, she snapped out of her thoughts and came back to the present and said, "I love you Ryan but do we really have the right to destroy peoples lives like this?"

Ryan shrugged and then said, "Maybe it won't be as bad as we think. Maybe Aidan and Annie will be okay with this. I mean, they love us and I'm sure that they would want us to be happy, right?"

Greenlee wanted so badly to believe what Ryan was saying but she was finding it difficult to do so. While she and Ryan hadn't purposely set out to hurt anyone, it looked like quite a few people were going to be hurt by the choices that they had made and it was tearing her apart.

"Maybe we shouldn't see each other for a while. We should take some time away from each other and decide if this is really what we want. I don't want to hurt Aidan and Annie if we don't have to."

Ryan nodded and then he let go of Greenlee. Ending the hug, Greenlee stepped a few feet away from Ryan and she stared into his eyes. "I'm so confused," she said softly. She sighed and then continued speaking.

"I feel like I'm being pulled in two different directions. Having to choose between you and Aidan is going to be the hardest thing that I have ever done. But let's do as you suggested. I'll get my purse and then go back to my apartment. When we are ready with our final decisions about who we are going to choose, we should call each other and then meet up that day. But until then, we should just decide what we want and then tell Annie and Aidan."

Ryan just sighed softly as he watched Greenlee pick up her purse and leave. When the door closed he thought, 'Now I just have to decide what to do.'

The end.


End file.
